If you've read this blog for very long, you've noticed that Andre has skin issues. He's often scratching and unhappy about it, but is such a wonderful boy he doesn't let it get him down. Unless, he ends up with skin infections and I have to give him shots. Then he's not happy.

Andre has had recurring yeast infections for most of his life. And I've tried many things to help him. Baths every few days with anti-fungal shampoo, coconut oil topically and mixed with his food, Linatone daily, tea tree oil sprays, ointments, wipes, and even anti-fungal cream that we use for yeasty diaper rashes with the human baby.

And you know what? None of it cured him. We could get it under control for a while, but it always came back. There didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. I'd wake up in the middle of the night to hear him crying, and I'd know his ear infection was back and he couldn't keep his fingers out of his ears. (Yes, I'm aware that he's actually a dog and dogs have toes, not fingers.) So I'd get up, clean his ears and start the ointment.

We recently decided to take the dogs off their raw diet (a story for another day), and I couldn't find the kibble I wanted to buy them. So I ordered a bag of Nutrisource Grain Free Lamb for large breed dogs. After a couple weeks, all of Andre's skin issues cleared up. We're now finishing up the third bag of it, and Andre's skin and coat have never looked or felt better. He's not scratching. His fur is almost as thick as Percy's now, and it's softer than I remember it ever being.

I'm so happy that my boy is feeling better. I'm so sorry it took me so long to even consider that it could be his food bothering him. Chicken was the staple for their diets. The best his skin looked was last fall when we were feeding them organic chickens one of my friends raised for the boys. But, we don't have room for raising chickens, and my friend was unable to raise another batch of them, so we had gone back to chicken from our meat market. We love our meat market, but I believe the chicken just didn't agree with Mr. McSnorty-Britches.

Why am I bothering to write this? Because I really believe if I had started with trying a different food for him, 3.5 years ago, I'd have saved a lot of money on medical bills, ointments, antibiotics, shampoos, conditioners, supplements, vitamins, and all kinds of heartache over seeing my boy in such misery.

My advice to anyone who has a dog suffering from skin issues, try some different foods and see what happens.